Walking on Burning Earth
by TheCrystalLotus
Summary: When Poppy was kidnapped from her homeland, Kyoshi Island, by the banished Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation, she didn't expect to be hunting down the Avatar, saving the world, and most importantly, falling in love.


**Crystal: An ATLA fanfiction! Yay! I'm really excited about this, so please give your support!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar the Last air bender in any way. **

It was a wonderful day by the riverside. The water gleamed, the animals were at peace, and the distant chirping of a bird with the gurgling of the water was the only sound that could be heard. I sighed in contentment, and continued to pick nuts from the nearby trees.

"Poppy!" A loud voice pierced through the foliage. I closed my eyes and responded back.

"…Here." I was tired and sick of it. My sister kept following me through the forest, concerned about my safety when there was nothing at all to be concerned about.

"Poppy!" Suki came through the foliage. "You know not to go out by yourself!" I groaned. "It's dangerous! We don't even need the supplies!" I opened my eyes.

"Suki!" I said, groaning again. "You know I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself! And I can't eat all the food that we receive here! They put something in it that makes me sick!"

"Milu or Lela could have gotten some food for you!" Suki argued. "Poppy." She placed his hand on my shoulder and I could see the desperation in her eyes. "I can't lose you too."

I sighed. She was right. The war had really taken a toll on both of us, leaving our parents dead.

"Besides." She said, turning around. "I hear that we have intruders to take care of." I followed her in pursuit, dropping some of the nuts in my basket.

I was the complete polar opposite of Suki. She was confident, strong and popular. I was just her excess twin sister. I was younger by two minutes. Funny, right?

Suki and I stopped at the Avatar Kyoshi tribune, where the intruders were tied up against the pole. There was a girl and boy, both bundled up in thick blue Water Tribe outfits, not fitting for Kyoshi Island, and one boy in an… Air Nomad outfit? He also had air bending tattoos. Strange. They had blind folds on, and could not see us even though we saw them

"If you don't answer all of our questions, we'll throw you back in the water with the Unagi." Suki shouted all of a sudden, in a confident manner.

"Show yourselves, cowards!" the boy in the water tribe outfit called. Suki walked up the three figures and pulled off their blindfolds. The three people were astounded.

"Who are you?" The same boy cried in astonishment. "Where are the men who ambushed us?" I felt offended. Most of the people in this world were so sexist, believing that women couldn't do anything.

I didn't want to be the type of girl that moaned on and on about women's rights. That was ridiculous. I just silently hoped that people wouldn't keep making that mistake.

"There were no men." Suki said, clearly offended more than I. "We ambushed you! Now tell us, who are you and what are you doing here!"

"Wait a second!" The boy rebutted in astonishment. "There's no way a bunch of girls took us down!" The boy laughed slightly while saying this, rolling his eyes at the same time. Talk about multitasking.

Suki rushed forward and pulled the boy forward by his collar. "A bunch of girls, huh?" she asked angrily. "The Unagi's going to eat well tonight!"

Some would say that our way of interrogating was harsh, but this is how my sister and the Kyoshi warriors did things. It wasn't my place to say anything about it. After all, I wasn't part of their group. They didn't want me to join, because I was a bender. An earth bender, perfectly capable of joining, but unable to.

"No! Don't hurt him!" The girl shouted, trying to save her pathetic excuse of a brother. "He didn't mean it! My brother's just an idiot sometimes!" I smirked.

"It's my fault." The boy with the tattoos said suddenly. "I'm the reason we came here. We wanted to ride the elephant koi." What kind of idiot wanted to ride the elephant koi?

"How do we know that you are not Fire Nation spies!" Oyaji, our town leader spoke, stepping forward. "Kyoshi has stayed out of the war so far, and we intend to keep it that way!"

"This island is named after Kyoshi?" The air boy asked suddenly. "I know Kyoshi." To this response, Oyaji laughed.

"How could you possibly know her?" Oyaji said. "Avatar Kyoshi was born here four hundred years ago! She's been dead for centuries!"

The boy looked down for a moment, and then looked up again. "I know because I'm the Avatar." I gasped.

"That's impossible!" Suki stated, yelling now. "The Last Avatar was an air bender who disappeared one hundred years ago!"

"_One hundred years ago…" I thought. "An air bender." _I suddenly gasped. This boy WAS the air bending Avatar!

"That's me!" the boy responded cheekily. Oyaji's face contorted into one of anger.

"Throw the imposter to the Unagi!" he commanded. The warriors took out their fans and started to circle around the three people.

"Wait! I called out. But no body paid any heed to me. Suddenly, the boy flew twenty feet up into the air and cushioned his landing. Everybody, including me, stared in amazement.

"It's true!" Oyaji said in amazement. "You are the Avatar!"

"Now!" the boy said. "Check this out!" He started to spin marbles and everyone gasped. There was one guy whose mouth started foaming! What a trivial trick.

I turned around, starting to walk back to the cottage where Suki and I lived. Stupid.

* * *

Everyone was making a huge deal about Avatar Aang's stay (I had soon learned his name). They were even re-painting the Kyoshi statue in his honor.

"Hey Poppy. You know that boy?" Suki asked. "What's his name…" she thought for a moment. "Oh yeah! Sokka! You know Sokka?"

"What about him?" I asked, practicing my earth bending stances.

"He's kinda… cute." Suki blushed a little.

"Great." I rolled my eyes, dropping my stance. "Suki, you know how it was last time. This guy could be the same."

"I know, I know." She said still blushing. "But there's something different about him!"

"There's something different about every boy Suki." I said, exasperated. We heard footsteps quickly approaching our house.

"Fire benders have landed on our shores!" Oyaji suddenly called, appearing in the opening of our house. "Suki, come quickly!" Suki ran out the front door without a second thought.

"Suki!" I yelled, chasing after her. We got outside and Suki quickly stopped, forcing me to stop too. We ran to the side of a building where all the Kyoshi warriors were and quickly crouched down.

"Now would be a good time to prove your skills, sister!" Suki hissed, looking at the rest of the warriors for approval. They all nodded, urging Suki to continue. "We'll all hide on the roofs, while you take the direct attack."

"But I'm not good enough and-" I was cut off. Suki had put her finger to my lips and smiled.

"You'll do great." She said, confidence once again beaming off of her like waves. It was true though, I wasn't good enough. Nobody had a need for earth bender here when there was a fleet of well-trained warriors to protect him or her.

"Come on Avatar!" Someone from the group of intruders called. "You can't hide from me forever!" So he was looking for the Avatar, huh? Well, he'd just have to settle for the Kyoshi Warriors and myself.

We all took our positions. I stepped out into the open facing our intruders. They were riding rhino's and each had a fire nation insignia. A boy with a high ponytail and a scar on the left side of his face seemed to be the leader of the group.

"Find him." The boy said, not noticing my arrival. Three men on the rhinos moved closer. Suddenly, I bent a huge rock out of the ground and threw it towards the three soldiers. It hit all of them!

I squealed in joy, jumping up and down with my hands up in the air. I had actually just started the battle, and had succeeded! Then, as planned, the Kyoshi warriors jumped up from the roofs, and proceeded to deal with the next few soldiers.

Suki ran forward, dodging a few blasts of fire from the boy with the ponytail and leapt up in mid-air. The boy snarled for a second, and then his rhino whipped its tail at Suki, sending her flying!

"Suki!" I screamed, scared that she was going to die. Suki was tough, no kidding, but I was still her sister and I still worried. Just as the boy was going to throw fire at Suki though, Sokka jumped in in time and deflected the fire blast just as something knocked the boy from his seat on the rhino!

Sokka really did care about Suki! Three of the Kyoshi warriors, including Sokka and Suki, surrounded the boy, but he spun around, creating a fire circle and knocking all of them against something.

I couldn't stand by and do nothing. I bent some stones from the ground and threw them, all at once, at the boy. He dodged all of them and came charging at me. I threw up a stone wall to protect myself, but he somehow jumped above it, hurling fire towards me. My eyes grew wide, and I threw myself down to the ground, to avoid getting hit.

"Nice try Avatar!" The boy yelled. "But these little girls can't save you!" Everything was on fire. All the houses. All the roofs. The Kyoshi statue. And everything was broken and shabby now. These people had cause nothing but destruction. My pupils widened, and I stayed in that position.

"Hey!" Somebody called. The boy whipped around, facing Aang!

"Finally." The boy said in a calm matter. But no sooner had he said that when he unleashed a wave of fire in Aang's direction. Aang dodged all of it, and flew up.

The rest was a blur to me. I stayed crouched down on the ground, afraid of that one thing. Afraid of the red that ravished our village. Afraid for Suki. Afraid for me.

"Poppy!" I looked up, to see Suki running towards me. She was alright! "Poppy!" She called again, holding me by the shoulders. "Are you OK?"

"I think so…" I muttered. I looked up to the sky, only to see the Aang fleeing on his bison! That traitor! He had left us, with no support! How were we going to do anything now!

Suddenly, the Unagi rose up, casting its shadow across the whole village. It started to spray water, causing all the fires to be put out! Out of relief, I laughed suddenly, unaware that I was doing so in the first place.

All of a sudden, Suki's hands left my shoulders abruptly. I turned around, only to have my hair pulled up, and my hands restrained behind my back, causing me to move up as well. I screamed, partly from the pain, and partly from fear.

"If you keep attacking me, she dies." The person behind me said, releasing my hair and creating a small flame next to my neck. I struggled, trying to use my earth bending, but only causing him to move the flame closer to my neck.

"_That voice…" _I thought to myself. _"It's the ponytail boy!" _I gasped in realization.

"POPPY!" Suki screamed, reaching out to me from her position on the ground. Tears started to well up in my eyes as I realized that there was blood coming from her side.

The boy started to move backwards, and I had no choice but to either. "If you follow us, she also dies." They boy spoke again, making a double chance. Tears started to flow down my eyes as we started to move towards the small black ship. I kept gulping back cries of anguish, because I needed to be strong. But when we got to the ship, and I saw my homeland diminishing from sight, I didn't know if I could be strong.

Because I didn't know if I was going to be all right.


End file.
